|
Robert Downey Sr.Interview by Alyce Wilson After a 40-year career of making mostly independent, absurdist films, Robert Downey, Sr. has recently teamed up with producer Max Raab on the acclaimed Strut! (2003) and the documentary Rittenhouse Square (2005). He is currently working with Raab on a documentary about composer Kurt Weill. One of Downey's best-known films is Putney Swope (1969), a devastating satire of Madison Avenue, which will be rereleased soon on DVD. His 1970 film Pound, where humans play dogs waiting to be adopted, was recently shown at the 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival. I met with him when he was in town to do a signing for the Rittenhouse Square DVD. We spoke in the lobby of his hotel, where, given his love of music, the piano music filtering from the sound system seemed an appropriate soundtrack to our conversation. I wanted to start out with talking about Rittenhouse Square. And specifically, I found it interesting that you've book-ended your career to date with what you might consider experimental documentaries. You started out working with Albert Cullum, the teacher, and did short films with him. And then, last year, Rittenhouse Square came out. But in between, you've done a lot of experimental comedies. What brought you back to the documentary? Max Raab. I helped out on Strut about the Mummers. He directed that one. I helped a little bit. And then he asked me to do this one, so it was fun. I've known him for 47 years. I understand Rittenhouse Square was something of a collaborative process? [Max] comes up with the ideas. And then we just work with him, and he lets you do whatever you want to do. And once in a while, he'll say something. He's great. Was it also a collaborative process with your editor [Stanley Warnow]? Because I know you worked with the cinematographer [Peter Powell] before on Greaser's Palace. And Stan was the editor of Woodstock and Hair. That's right. Well, I just got a couple of my friends, but he's great. Yes, I like working with the same people, especially when you haven't worked in a long time together, you know? I guess it has been about 30 years for Peter. Yes, well, we did something else. We did some films for Lou Gehrig's Disease. Benefits and stuff. Actually, that reminds me. The film Hugo Pool, it starts out as an experimental comedy, absurdist comedy. And you get into this very moving film [about Lou Gehrig's Disease]. What was your inspiration? My wife [Laura Ernst] died of it. That's what I thought. I knew that she died shortly before that movie came out. I thought there must be a connection. And the guy who played her knew her, Patrick Dempsey. So it was helpful. He knew exactly the mannerisms of the disease. So what was that like working on that film for you? It was tough, but you know, she had written some of the script. And it was hard, but she'd keep going. She was dying. She was a co-writer for about two-thirds of it. I think one of the most outstanding things about that movie is that nobody treats him as a victim. Including himself. Exactly. I mean, he has a great sense of humor about it. Yes. He's a great actor, Patrick. So was that film difficult to make? It turned out to be OK, because everybody, you know, showed up and wanted to give everything they had. It was fun. For her legacy. I'd like to talk more about Rittenhouse Square. The young violinist, Caeli Veronica Smith, from what I understand from watching the documentary [about the making of the film], that was just a chance meeting that blossomed into the heart of the film. Tell me more about meeting her and adding that to the film. Well, we were shooting the first day, and we didn't know what we were doing with this yet, testing the equipment around the square, just tweaking, and the sound man came over and said, "There's an interesting girl on the other side of the square. I think we might check her out." So we went over and there she was playing. So we photographed her. And then she came out of her trance. Suddenly, her mom was there, and we were talking. And I said, "Could we see her again?" And she said yes. And then we just followed her through the four seasons, her journey. And the documentary itself is very musical. Was that something that emerged from what you discovered? Well, the park was close to Curtis [Institute of Music in Philadelphia]. And also, Max is a music connoisseur. So when we were editing, he would say, if I sent something up to see if he liked it, he would offer some music for it. We're working on a documentary about Kurt Weill, the composer, his life. I love him. We're just researching. We're almost done with the research. Didn't he work with Bertolt Brecht? Yes, that's right. Kind of experimental. Well, there was protest music when Hitler came at him. And then, you know, he fled here, Kurt Weill, and his wife. Broadway, blah, blah, blah. But very interesting guy. So is that going to be with interviews and... Well, it's got everything. Performance, stock footage, musical numbers, dance numbers, all about his music. And how he and his wife [Lotte Lenya], she kept the flame going after he died for another 30, 40 years. She was a big star in her life. Max and I were lucky enough to see The Threepenny Opera off Broadway with her. He had died. It was just great. It's never been as good since. Well, that's the best known. Yes. There's lots of stuff. And then there's some of these Broadway musicals. They were experimental, too. And they were operas. And everything was always one or two, September Song. Music seems to be a big part of your creative inspiration. I love it, yes. When it goes together with film, it's a beautiful thing. When the right music and the right images go together, they make something else, whatever that is. Are you a musician? I wish. I'm a fan. What was the creative process like for Rittenhouse Square, as opposed to the other films you've done that were scripted. Was there just as much pre-production? No, no, no. You don't know what's going to happen every day. So it's not about if the script's any good. You don't know what the script is when you're making a documentary. Somebody could die, and then what do you do? And that happened. And that happened. I thought that was lovely the way that you handled it in the film. Yes, he was great. And how appreciative his wife was about the fact that you captured his spirit. And kind of writ large. That's what she said. I never met her, but she told Max she was very happy. And you just did a DVD signing for Rittenhouse Square in Philly. What are your further plans for the distribution of the film? They sell DVDs. There's no real distribution. We opened in New York, too, the Lincoln Plaza. We were there for a week. You know, with things like that, it's beginning to be there's a market for self DVD distribution. It's on PBS a lot, Rittenhouse, about six times, here. That's helping. We're hoping it will move to other cities. I guess that sort of distribution channel didn't used to exist. And I know that you were saying at the screening of Pound [at the 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival] that that film kind of got buried, because the distributors didn't want anything to do with it. That's how it works. And the studio didn't know what to do with it. That's right. What does that do to you as a filmmaker? It's depressing. What do you do? You just keep going.
|
